St. Ambrose – Brunswick – Friday January 20th – 5:30pm Chapel Mass

Celebrant: Fr. Bob Stec

Homily Reflections: Hands down one of the best homilies I’ve heard for a daily mass. And I believe I was meant to hear it. Isn’t that interesting how God plans that out? I was exactly where I needed to be. Prior to coming to mass, I had been feeling just a little down for some unknown reason. And then Fr. Bob begins his homily by saying how a dying man recently asked him, “Father, if God forgives us, does He forget what He’s forgiven?”  After a few words about forgiveness and confession, Father said it doesn’t matter if God forgets or not. All that matters is that He forgives. It doesn’t matter what we did 2 hours ago, 2 days ago or 2 decades ago. As long as we seek repentance and ask for forgiveness, God forgives. The most powerful moment was, as a congregation of 2o or so people gathered in this chapel, we echoed Fathers words: “God forgives. And so we are forgiven.” I couldn’t even get the words out I was almost crying. It was just exactly what I needed to hear. I think there’s just something really special and intimate about daily mass that you just can’t get at a regular mass..and this particular homily was exactly it. Intimate and warm and inviting and quiet enough that I could hear God speak through Father’s words.

Holy Moments: I was asked to help bring up the gifts which I don’t think I’ve done in at least a decade.

As I went up to receive the wine (blood of Christ) I was the last person so I was asked to finish it off. This was a first for me. I don’t normally take more than a little sip of the wine so to take in a huge gulp was just kind of humorous and somewhat of an honor at the same time. I went back to my seat feeling pretty good, too. 😉

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St Mary of the Immaculate Conception – Avon – January 21 8:30am

Celebrant: Not 100% sure but think it was the Pastor, Fr. C. Thomas Cleaton

Gospel MK 3:20-21  – It’s so short that I can just copy and paste it here:

Jesus came with his disciples into the house.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, 
for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Homily Reflection: Jesus didn’t fit in. He was different. The crowds were sinners who admired Jesus which caused the Sadducees and Pharisees to become threatened by him. What about us? Don’t we want to be admired? Don’t we seek the approval of others? But that’s not important. The only thing that matters is the approval of God. If we have that, we have everything.

Holy Moments: There was not 1, not 2 but 3! servers for this mass. They were clearly very traditional. It’s a very ornate and sacramental church as you can see from the picture that I quickly took afterwards. (I feel awkward taking pictures of these churches if I’m not the only one in there.Feels like I’m being disrespectful so I try to only use photos from the parishes websites if I can.)

This particular morning was the day of the Cleveland March for Life. I wore my 40 Days for Life Hoodie and someone approached me after mass asking me if I was planning on going to the local March. We reconnected at the march a few hours later. Sidenote: The local march had a really great turnout. The good weather definitely helped! And the speaker, Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League did a fantastic job expressing how far the pro-life movement has come in 44 years since Roe vs. Wade. Very encouraging!

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St Mary – Elyria – Monday January 23rd -National Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn Child – 5:30pm

 

Celebrant: Unknown – can’t get on their website to confirm. Forgive me!

Homily Reflection: Given the occasion, the priest discussed abortion and how we can protect the unborn and most vulnerable and weakest in our society. He made a point to mention something that I wish all pro-abortion advocates knew about most pro-lifers: Making abortion illegal won’t change hearts. And making abortion illegal will not end abortion. We know that. So what can we do? We need to help people discover love and see life as a gift. We have the Holy Spirit inside us – we need to bring it out. We need to share love in order to build a culture of life. If not, our efforts are fruitless. Prayer is a huge part of it. But action is needed as well. We need to help people see the that each life has value. And how can we do that? We share the Gospel, we share the message of Christ.

Holy Moments: A lovely woman complimented me on her way out the door about my 40 Days for Life shirt. What can I say, I’m unapologetically pro-life and something like a message on a t-shirt can spark a conversation. You never know who is watching.

Got the big host at communion! Aww yeah. Jackpot.

This begs the question – If I get a piece of the big host at communion 3 masses in a row, is that like the equivalent of a hat trick in hockey or like a turkey in bowling? Because I swear this is going to happen to me during this project. And when it does, I think it should be named after me. Like…the Piccolo effect. 🙂

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Next week I hope to have my blog done about my experience at my first ever March for Life in D.C. I was also interviewed (very briefly, about 5 questions) by the New York Times about my feelings on the Women’s March on Washington and my views as a pro-life feminist. So stay tuned for that whenever it publishes!